CHAPTER XXXI--MAKING CONVERSATION EFFECTIVE
The father of W.E. Gladstone considered conversation to be both an art and an accomplishment. Around the dinner table in his home some topic of local or national interest, or some debated question, was constantly being discussed. In this way a friendly rivalry for supremacy in conversation arose among the family, and an incident observed in the street, an idea gleaned from a book, a deduction from personal experience, was carefully stored as material for the family exchange.Thus his early years of practise in elegant conversation prepared the younger Gladstone for his career as a leader and speaker.
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